species detail

Lazuli Bunting Passerina amoena

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Migration Info The migration of this species is divided into two distinct movements, one along the U.S. west coast and the other through the Great Basin and the Rockies. Birds move along the coast quite rapidly during the month of April, but those that migrate inland move through later, and some don't arrive in the northernmost portion of their breeding range until early June. If you are lucky enough to live where you can listen to Lazuli Buntings when they first arrive in spring, you may hear a distinct change as the young males learn their local dialect, and each develops a unique sound. First-year males arrive in the breeding area without a song. They piece together song fragments from other males they hear for a few days, and then settle on their own song, which they will use exclusively for the rest of their lives. This is one of the reasons that it is so difficult to characterize the song of this species; each population tends to have a "neighborhood" dialect.